


Dream of Red

by stressfangirl



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Red String of Fate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 21:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17947718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stressfangirl/pseuds/stressfangirl
Summary: Jongin was suddenly sent to the future to see the older version of himself and his best friend Kyungsoo, but what struck him the most was the dimming light of red string tied to their pinkies.





	Dream of Red

**Author's Note:**

> This is my entry for the mini digital kadi zine "Cherry" last January.

Summer is starting and just like always, Jongin will spend most of the days together with his best friend Kyungsoo. Well actually, the two are inseparable even during school days. Kim Jongin is seven years old while Do Kyungsoo is nine, but despite their two year age gap they still love playing together more than playing with other kids like Chanyeol and Sehun. Today’s a bright Wednesday morning, the two kids are lying on a makeshift bed that’s connected to a big old tree, waiting.

“Should we start playing, or should we wait for the others?” Kyungsoo asks.

“Can we just sleep? I still want to sleep,” Jongin whines.

“Didn’t you woke up late? Now you want to sleep again,”

“Pwese hyung”

“Fine, you sleep for a while. I’ll just get my book in my room,” Kyungsoo said before leaving Jongin to get his book in their house which is just twenty little steps away from where they are.

Jongin, on the other hand, is starting to get drowsy as the breeze of summer air touches him and his eyes start to close. The makeshift bed is one of his favorite spot to sleep on. He really doesn't know why but the hardwood surface lull him to sleep. Few minutes after, a strong wind blows and wakes him from his nap.

“Soo?” Jongin called his friend but no one is answering and so he continued sleeping.

“Soo, make it fast or we’ll be late again!” Jongin heard another voice, a deeper one but what makes him confused is why is the voice calling kyungsoo as well. Quickly, he gets up and saw two familiar guys walking together.

“Soo faster, it’s the first day of school and we shouldn't be late,” he heard the taller guy talking.

“Jongin what’s wrong with you, why are you so excited?”

Jongin’s sleepy eyes widen as he tries to figure out the things in front of him. Did he just hear taller Kyungsoo call the other guy Jongin? As in Jongin like his name?”

Who are these people?

He asks as he stares at them, he runs near and touches them but it seems like none of the two can actually see him, so without a second thought, Jongin follows the two guys to where they are heading. Little Jongin walks beside the “older” Jongin and looks at him from his head down to his shoes, he looks taller than him obviously, however, he notices they have the same eyes, nose and lips. Oh and also he has a scar on his left eyebrow just like the scar Jongin got yesterday.

We look exactly the same, it’s just that he’s taller and bigger than me

“This is my first day in high school, of course I’m excited, plus you're going to school again,” older Jongin said.

Little Jongin pauses for awhile and stares at Kyungsoo. Just like the younger Kyungsoo, this one looks pretty but he looks shorter than the older Jongin, and he walks slower as well. His Kyungsoo always walks ahead of him.

“Well you can walk ahead of me, besides we’re in different floor anyways.”

Jongin stops walking and looks at Kyungsoo. Now both Kyungsoo and little Jongin are looking at the older Jongin, “I can’t do that. You know I promise auntie that I will not leave you,” he said. Kyungsoo smiles while little Jongin starts getting confused. Soon the two friends began walking to the bus stop.

“Why do they need to ride the bus when our school is just in the corner?” he asks himself but still, he continues to follow the two guys.

While waiting, little Jongin looks around the place. It’s still the same village, however, there are a lot of new buildings and establishments added in their place. The bus finally arrives where the two older guys hop on, in which Jongin follows. It’s just a seven minute ride then older Jongin and older Kyungsoo left together with the other students who were also riding the bus.

WELCOME STUDENTS OF HOPE HIGH SCHOOL SY 2018 - 2019

“2018?” little Jongin stops for a while after he saw the big banner that hangs in front of the school gate. His eyes widen when realizing that he’s in the year twenty-eighteen. He then counts in his little fingers how old is this other Jongin starting from two thousand eight where he was seven years old.

“That’s me when I become seventeen?”

Little Jongin lifts his head to look at the older Jongin but he’s not there. Quickly, little Jongin looks around until he spotted him towards the building still next to Kyungsoo. In a rush, little Jongin runs towards them.

“Hey, Jongin wait up!”

Little Jongin stops for a while to see who’s calling him just like what older Jongin is doing, only to find a lanky boy with a crescent eye almost the same height as older Jongin running towards them.

“Move fast Sehunnie!” older Jongin said.

Wait, this is Sehun? The chubby kid Sehun who used to take all my biscuit away from me? Wow, he’s so thin right now.

“I said wait for me you idiot,” Said Sehun who is now running towards Jongin and Kyungsoo, and little Jongin follows.

Little Jongin is already panting when he reaches the older guys since his little body is not used to too much running. Then he saw Sehun greeting Kyungsoo while slapping older Jongin’s shoulder.

“Hey Jongin, my classroom is on the second floor, I’ll go ahead first,” Kyungsoo said before he ruffles Jongin’s hair like he always does since they’re younger.

“Ugh, hyung not my hair,” he whines before he fixes it again.

“You’re such a baby!” Kyungsoo teases before he finally leaves.

Once Kyungsoo’s gone, little Jongin follows behind older Jongin and Sehun. As they walk, he suddenly notices a red string tied around older Jongin’s pinky finger. Little Jongin follows the red string to where it leads until he saw that the other end is tied at Kyungsoo’s pinky finger as well, and the red string gets longer as the two boys walk farther from each other.

“Huh? What is that?” little Jongin asks himself.

He reaches the string to hold and after he does both older Kyungsoo and older Jongin suddenly looks at each in the far distance. When little Jongin looks at Kyungsoo, the older is already waving at older Jongin. 

Nothing eventful happens the whole morning in Jongin’s class and so little Jongin did nothing but sit at the platform in front. Until now, he is still amazed that no one from this year can actually see him. It’s like he is a ghost even though he’s not. Minutes later, the bell rings for lunch break and quickly the students get up from their seats, ignoring their teacher who’s still talking in front. Little Jongin began walking towards older Jongin where the latter is waiting for Sehun who’s still taking down some notes. 

“Are you done?” 

“Almost, you can go ahead first and find Kyungsoo hyung. I’ll just follow in a while.” 

 

There’s a big and messy crowd inside the cafeteria right now. A long line of students who are going to buy food for their lunch. Jongin scratches his hair, he should have gone earlier. Then he heard someone calling his name, he turns around and saw Kyungsoo sitting in a table with another person. 

“Hey come here, I got your food.” 

Jongin couldn’t take his eyes off of the pretty guy beside Kyungsoo. Thankfully, his friend introduces the two of them. Jongin smiles and reaches his hands to shake. Byun Baekhyun, he read this name tag. Then the three of them began eating, Jongin told how he is beginning to like High School. Suddenly, little Jongin got surprised when everything around him changes. They weren’t in the school cafeteria anymore, but rather in a street where there are a lot of stores, coffee shops, and restaurant. 

Little Jongin look around and found Jongin’s walking alongside Baekhyun while Kyungsoo is walking behind them together with Sehun and Chanyeol. The boys are wearing their casual shirt and looks like they are heading to a coffee shop. Little Jongin follows them like he always does, he is walking behind the five boys that’s why he didn't clearly hear what they are talking but he can see that Kyungsoo doesn’t look happy at all. 

Also, the red string he saw earlier is still visible but he isn’t sure if the older guys can see it. It is still around Kyungsoo’s and Jongin’s pinky finger. Again, little Jongin becomes curious and so he decided to walk closer to Kyungsoo to check the red thread. 

“Ouch!” Kyungsoo screeches, causing the other guys to stop walking and look at him. 

“What happened?” Sehun asks.

“I don’t know I just felt like someone pinched my pinky finger” he answers. 

Both Chanyeol and Sehun laugh, while Jongin only stops for a while and just stares at him. Kyungsoo looked back at him and smiles, which also Jongin responds with a smile. 

“Finally it‘s warm,” said Baekhyun the moment they arrive inside the coffee shop. 

“Hopefully winter won’t come earlier this year,” Jongin said.

Winter? It was still the transition of summer to autumn when little Jongin first saw them now it’s almost winter already? But how? Little Jongin asks himself.

Time seems faster in this world that everything can change with a snap of your finger. As little Jongin notices earlier Kyungsoo doesn’t look happy today, he keeps on staring at Jongin while the latter is too busy having a conversation with Baekhyun. 

Why is Kyungsoo sad? Little Jongin asks as he looks directly at him. The red string is just right in front of him. Curious little Jongin reaches Kyungsoo’s pinky finger to try to untie it. He tried to slowly reach the string but his shorthand can’t hold it so he stands on his seat until he finally reaches the string. 

“What will happen if I untie this?” he asks himself as he's holding the string.

What he didn’t know is that whenever he’s touching (or holding) the string, both older Jongin and Kyungsoo will end up looking at each other. It’s like an autopilot, just like right now, older Jongin and Kyungsoo are subtly staring at each other across the table. 

“Why is it so hard to untie,” Little Jongin said as both his little hands try to twist the string around Kyungsoo’s pinky finger.

“Can you stop shamelessly flirting at each other?” Sehun suddenly said 

Little Jongin stops what he’s doing, older Jongin look at the other way while Kyungsoo bows his head as he tries to hide the blush on his face.

After they had snack, they went to a noraebang where Kyungsoo and Baekhyun seem to enjoy a lot. Baekhyun sang a lot of happy songs while Kyungsoo chooses to sing all the sappy sad song he can think of. 

“What’s with the sad songs, Soo?” Sehun asks. Instead of answering he just shrugged his shoulders. 

This didn’t go unnoticed by Jongin. Throughout the day, he feels how Kyungsoo distanced himself from him. He only talks to Chanyeol, Sehun, or Baekhyun but he rarely talks to Jongin even when they left their houses earlier. While Baekhyun and Chanyeol are having fun singing, Jongin moves closer to where Kyungsoo is sitting at.

“Hey, you okay?” he asks in a hushed tone. Kyungsoo didn’t answer and continues looking for another song from the songbook. Again, Jongin asks him but this time Kyungsoo obviously ignores him and starts talking to Sehun instead. Jongin was shocked he didn’t have any single idea what’s going on with Kyungsoo’s mind right now. As far as he remembers, he didn’t do or said anything to hurt him. In fact, they never got time to talk since he spends so much time with Baekhyun. After that incident, he never went closer to Kyungsoo just to cool things off between them. 

“He is so weird sometimes,” he said loud enough for Kyungsoo to hear, but the latter just ignored him. 

They were in the middle of having fun when Baekhyun received a text message from his mom telling him to go home early. 

“Let me walk you home.” Jongin offers. 

But Baekhyun declined to say it would be a hassle for his part since they live far from each other. “I’ll walk with Chanyeol instead since we’re taking the same way” he answered.

They left around eight in the evening and since it’s a Saturday, there are still many people around town doing some shopping and whatnot. The wind is quite chilly that night and since it’s already late October, little Jongin is sleepy since its past his bedtime already but Sehun, Jongin, and Kyungsoo is still out there eating tteokbokki. 

“So, have you invited Baekhyun already?” Sehun asks Jongin. 

Kyungsoo stops eating for a while and looks at the two younger guys. There’s a hint of a mischievous smile on Sehun’s face while Jongin looks clueless (or more like he’s trying to look one) but of course, Kyungsoo knows Jongin and he’s not buying that reaction from him. 

“Invite to what?” he asks Sehun. 

“N-nothing-” 

“Be his date for our school formals” Sehun replies, not letting Jongin to finish his answer. 

Just then, Kyungsoo left without saying anything. Quickly, Jongin runs toward Kyungsoo but the latter runs faster than him and reaches the bus stop first. Kyungsoo’s panting and he’s crying with just the thought of Jongin going to their formals with Baekhyun. 

“I Promise that we will be going to my first formal together, Soo.” 

That was what Jongin told him last year when he told him about the party, and since then Kyungsoo looked forward to attend the formals with his best friend. However, everything crashes after he heard what Sehun told earlier. 

“Liar” he whispered. 

What is this feeling? Why is he feeling this way? He asks himself, still not sure what he’s feeling right now. Is he just sad? But why should he? Because he made a promise to him that they will go to the formals together.

Oh please Kyungsoo, you know yourself that’s not really the reason. He heard voices in his head. Using both his hands, he messily wipes the tears on his face. 

“Why does it hurt so bad?” He sighs.

“Soo! Hey, wait for me!” Kyungsoo heard Jongin. Lucky for him, the bus arrives before Jongin does so he quickly went inside, and Jongin follows next. 

A smile appears on Jongin’s face when he notices that there are two seats left but then someone walks past him and occupied the seat next to Kyungsoo. 

“Man you’re so slow,” Sehun said who stands next to him all of a sudden.

“This is all your fault stupid” Jongin hissed. 

Just like Kyungsoo, little Jongin is panting. Thank goodness his little feet can catch up with Sehun.

He was looking around until he saw older Jongin and Kyungsoo. Both are looking at each other's eyes but at the same time, they look sad. 

 

“Soo,”

“Kyungsoo,”

“Do Kyungsoo please wait and listen to me” Jongin begs as he chases his friend. No matter how hard Kyungsoo tries to ignore him, Jongin is so persistent until he finally reaches him and holds him. 

“What’s wrong with you?” Jongin is staring at Kyungsoo intensely.

“You promised me we’re going to the formals together, and now you have plans on asking Baek.” 

Jongin sighs, “You know how badly I want to get close to him.” 

Tears are starting to shed on Kyungsoo’s face. He couldn’t control it anymore, there’s a tight feeling on his chest that he really can’t explain. Is he really this mad at Jongin? 

Little Jongin sees everything that is happening between his older self and Kyungsoo. A part of him is also mad at himself for making Kyungsoo cry. 

“You’re so mean, big Jonginie!” little Jongin said before he stomps his feet on older Jongin’s shoes.

Instead of seeing Jongin’s reaction, little Jongin’s surrounding suddenly changes. It’s now winter and he’s with Jongin, Baekhyun, and Sehun having lunch. They are laughing and talking about the movie they watched yesterday, suddenly Kyungsoo passes by them.

“Hey, Soo come here!” Baekhyun called his friend. 

Kyungsoo paused for a while and smiles. “I’ll just find another seat.”

Baekhyun stands up and went near to Kyungsoo. “Stop acting like that and come sit with us,” he said as he took the tray from Kyungsoo and let him sit in front of Jongin. Sehun who is sitting next to Kyungsoo suddenly hugs him which surprised both Kyungsoo and Jongin.

“Kyungsoo Hyung, I miss you,” Sehun said while hugging.

It’s been two weeks since the Christmas break and they rarely saw Kyungsoo this time since he is now busy with his club. It was last November when Kyungsoo started to join the glee club because one, he loves singing so much, and two, so he can stay away from Jongin. After that little argument they had months ago, the two of them haven’t properly talk.

“We miss hanging out with you, Soo.” Baekhyun said. 

“I’m sorry I was a bit busy with my club.” Kyungsoo answers. 

“Club my ass,” Jongin said that made Kyungsoo look at him.

“Excuse me?” 

Jongin ignores him before he stands up from his seat and left his three friends. Little Jongin saw the red string again but this time the color seems lighter than before, it’s more of a dull shade of red which kind of confused him.

But why? What happened to its color?

“Don’t mind him Soo, I’ll just talk to him later after class?” said Baekhyun. 

Since it’s winter, classes end earlier than usual and there is no club activity until the third week of January. Kyungsoo is walking on his way home when he notices someone following him. He tries to walk faster so the other won't catch him when suddenly he felt a familiar hand grabbing his arms.

“Please let’s talk.” Jongin begs. 

To be honest, Kyungsoo is already tired of this setup. He is not used to being distanced with Jongin. He doesn't think he can spend another day ignoring him like it’s nothing at all. It’s only been two months but it’s already hard for Kyungsoo, and whatever he might be feeling right now, he is willing to forget it just to be close with his best friend, Kim Jongin.

“Fine, lets talk.” 

They walk towards the big old tree where they used to hang out when they were still kids. Thank goodness that today’s weather is not cold. Like yesterday, Jongin places his bag on top of the makeshift bed then he moves closer to Kyungsoo. 

“I miss you.” Jongin started.

“I miss not being able to talk to you, not going to school or going home with you. You don’t know how hard it was for me to act like I don't know you in school when all I want to do is hug you everytime we meet. I have fun hanging out with Baekhyun, but I love spending my time with you more. Soo, please let’s stop this. I just want to be with you again.” 

Suddenly, Kyungsoo starts crying ugly like what he always does when they were kids. Jongin knows that Kyungsoo rarely cries and when he does, it’s because he is really hurt. That is why he is mad at himself for making Kyungsoo cry like this. 

“I-I miss you too so much.”

Little Jongin is sitting and watching them on the other side of their makeshift bed. A part of him is really happy to see his older self and Kyungsoo made up from after few months (or at least few minutes from him) and another part of him misses his Kyungsoo hyung too. Then his eyes widen after he saw older Jongin move his face closer to Kyungsoo and press each other’s lips, then the red string became visible again and it’s in a brighter shade of red (or a happy red as what little Jongin call it). Like magic, little Jongin witnesses how the red string move on its own around older Jongin and Kyungsoo while they are kissing, like the string are tying them together. 

“It’s beautiful.” Little Jongin sai.

 

“Yah Kim Jongin wake up!” little Jongin felt like someone is shaking him.

“Yah, wake up let’s play toy cars” he heard Sehun’s high pitch voice. 

But little Jongin doesn’t want to open his eyes yet. He still wants to watch what happens next to older Jongin and Kyungsoo after they kiss but stupid Sehun always ruins everything for him. Again, Sehun tries to shake him and so Jongin ends up kicking Sehun in the feet.

“Hey Jongin, Sehun stop that!” 

Jongin stops and suddenly his cheeks turn red after he heard that familiar voice. Quickly, he runs towards Kyungsoo and hugs him like he hadn’t seen him for months. 

“Hyung, I promise I will never make you cry again, let’s not fight anymore okay?” he said. 

Kyungsoo lightly pushes Jongin away from him to see if he’s okay. “You’re just dreaming Jongin, of course, we will never fight” Kyungsoo said.

“Dream? But why does it feels so real?” 

“Huh?” 

“Nothing Hyung,” said Jongin before he joins his friends.

Later that night, the Kim's are having dinner when Jongin saw the cover of the book of one of his sisters. It is an illustration of a boy and a girl that has a red string tied around their pinky fingers just like what he sees in his dream earlier.

“Noona, what is that red string?” 

“That’s the red string of fate, Jonginie. They said we all have this invisible red string of fate tied around our pinky finger that connects to our soulmate” she answers.

“Soulmate? What is that noona?” little Jongin is a bit confused by now.

“Soulmate is that person destined to be with us, you know like a partner.” 

“You mean like a lover?” 

His sister’s eyes widen after she heard him. “Kim Jongin you’re only seven years old, where did you learn that word?” 

Jongin just smiled at his sister then continues eating his dinner.

‘So that means Kyungsoo hyung is my lover when I grow older?’ he asks with a smile on his face.


End file.
